Somehow the luxurious summer’s green
Conceals the red and gold that will emerge
Only as the days grow shorter and the green subsides
And night expresses its essential dominion

Is death beautiful
Is the world all things considered good
The red and gold are death’s harbingers death’s fools
The gray of death a neutral party albeit a powerful one

The emptiness that lets me fill the cup
The emptiness that lets me see a thousand trees
Overfull of a green oneness
The emptiness that lets me turn the page

And yet this world composed mostly of blank emptiness
Contains enough of force enough of will
To cause the leaves to flutter and twist
When they fall unresistingly to earth